Cruel Manipulations
by B00kw0rm92
Summary: Mr. Schue and the Glee girls walk in on a shocking scene: Kurt's crying, Mike's trying to comfort him and Artie's watching as Finn tries to stop Puck from hitting the guy on the floor again. No Pairings! Story from a Glee Angst Meme prompt.


**Author's Note: **This story was done for a prompt from the Glee Angst Meme. As the prompt is spoiler-y for this fic, I will post it at the bottom in a second Author's Note.

Important Things About This Story:

1: Kurt is still a Cheerio in this story.

2: There is some OOCness.

3: I'm not really sure why most of this ended up in the POV that it did.

* * *

"And what's priceless is that you thought they were your _friends_." a voice taunted. "I really didn't think it'd be this easy."

"What ... what are you talking about?" a second voice replied, sounding confused.

He knew that voice ... what was going on here?

"You thought you had your little 'Glee Club Family'. Yeah, right. Tell me, how many 'Glee Boys' meetings have there been in the past couple months?"

He really should go in there, but it didn't sound like anyone was really hurting Kurt and wanted to see where this guy was going first.

"One?" replied the other boy in small voice.

There was a mocking laugh before the reply. "Try eight. "

Silence.

"Do you know how stupid they are? It was so simple to play the nice guy. Then a little hint here and there and I made them realize that you weren't really one of the guys. What _guy_ sings that high? What _guy_ dresses like that? I expected more from wheelchair boy. To tell the truth, he was so busy glaring at Mike, I'm not even sure he knew what was going on."

He could hear the sneer in the boys voice and it was taking a large amount of restraint not to barge in. He couldn't yet though, he'd made his decision: Gather evidence and wait for backup. Then sic Puck and Finn on this ... monster who'd invaded their family.

When Kurt still didn't respond, his tormentor continued.

"The girls were even easier. I planted the ideas through Quinn that it just wasn't right for a boy to be with the girls, no matter how high his voice is. Then once Rachel realized that it made things uneven for you to sing with them ... well, that was that."

He thought he heard a sniffle and the idea of charging in came back. Before he could act, he spotted the other guys walking up and with a quick motion for them to be quiet and hurry over he began explaining what he'd heard as they listened to the rest in horror.

"You see, you don't belong anywhere. You're not a boy and you're not a girl. It was time for you to figure out that not even your precious Glee club thinks anything different. It was time for you to learn your lesson."

The guys were fuming and it was then that Kurt's tormentor signed his figurative death warrant. Just before they marched in, the window gave them an excellent view of Sam pushing Kurt into a wall.

The door flew open just Sam violently kicked the smaller boy. The screams of outrage caused him to quickly back away and when he froze at the sight of four very angry boys Artie took advantage of the moment of shock to roll over Sam's toes. Mike shot a death glare at the blond before heading straight for Kurt, who was slumped against the wall with tears in his eyes. Sam's eyes, on the hand had widened in shock at the realization that he seemed to have gravely misjudged the other boys. However, he didn't have time for any other reaction. He received a punch the to nose from Puck, immediately followed by a punch to the stomach from Finn.

"Don't you touch him! He's ten times the man you'll ever be, you're just a bully..."

Artie turned his attention to Kurt as Finn continued to rant and Puck continued to exact a more physical form of revenge. Mike was hugging Kurt who, by this point was crying as both Mike and Artie desperately tried to calm him down and make sure he knew that they were idiots, but Sam was wrong - he was still their friend and they all loved him.

It wasn't until Mike looked up and exclaimed "Dude! You're gonna kill him!" that Finn stopped yelling and quickly grabbed Puck to stop him.

"I _want_ to kill him!" Puck yelled as he struggled against Finn.

"You think I don't?" Finn replied "Kurt's my almost-step-brother. But if you kill Sam, you go to jail and Burt doesn't get to go after him with a chainsaw. This way's easier and we get in less trouble."

It was this scene that the rest of the club walked in on.

"What is going on here!" yelled Mr. Shoue

"He tricked us!" "He hurt Kurt!" Puck and Finn yelled at the same time.

Artie decided it would be best if he handled the explanations. Approximately two sentences into said explanation, the girls had all rushed to Kurt's side, with the exception of Santana who was glaring daggers at Sam and, along with Mr. Shoue, looked as though she wouldn't mind picking up where Puck left off.

"Let me get this straight. This _idiot_ joined Glee just to mess with our heads and hurt Kurt?" Santana finally commented when Artie was done.

"Apparently." Artie answered, looking at the boy still laying in the floor and wondering how much trouble he would get in if he tried to roll over Sam's legs.

There was a dangerous expresion on the Cheerio's face as she replied "I'm getting Coach Sylvester."

Mr Shoue's eyes showed barely controlled rage as he ordered someone to get the principal too.

* * *

"Oh, Kurt! I'm so sorry!" Mercedes said with tears in her eyes.

"So ... Sam made us be mean to Kurt?" said a confused Brittany.

"Kurt, we never had any intentions of hurting you. There was more to Sam's manipulations then out right saying that you didn't belong with us. We thought you'd rather be with the boys!" Rachel explained, looking horrified at being out-manipulated.

"And we thought you would rather be with the girls. And I don't think either of us knew that you weren't hanging out with the other group." Mike finished.

Quinn mumbled something about wishing Puck hadn't stopped hitting Sam.

"Are you ok, Kurt?" Brittany asked.

Kurt made a visible attempt to pull himself together before flashing a shaky smile at the girl. "I'll be fine, Brittany." he assured her.

"But, Artie just said he like, kicked you. Wouldn't that hurt?" the puzzled Cheerio asked.

Chaos ensued.

After much protesting, Kurt finally gave in and lifted his shirt for the girls to assess the damage.

"I-I'm getting the nurse." Tina said, as she stood and walked out the door. Santana stormed out behind her.

"Somebody get the principal!" Mr. Shoue loudly ordered the room.

"I will." a determined looking Rachel announced. "Sam needs to at _least_ be suspended for this. I'm going to make sure that Principal Figgins knows that."

"But then Puck will get in trouble too!" Finn protested.

"I don't really care." Puck replied. "Maybe everyone will get the message that Glee Club isn't gonna stand for being messed with anymore."

Rachel gave an approving nod before marching out of the room.

"Is he dead?" Brittany asked, looking over at Sam.

"Unfortunately, no." Puck snapped, still glaring at the boy on the floor.

Sam was wide awake. He just realized that getting up wouldn't be the best move right then.

* * *

As soon as Coach Sylvester, Principal Figgins and the nurse entered the room, chaos levels rose to new heights causing it to be nearly impossible to hear everything that was going on.

"It's a nasty bruise, but I don't think anything is broken."

"_Nobody. Touches. My. Cheerios._"

"He's been manipulating us for _months_! This has all been part of a diabolical plot to hurt Kurt and personally, I feel that he should be expelled."

"Are you sure that's _really_ what happened?"

"Hmm. I think he may need to go the hospital."

"Who cares!"

"Oh... yes, yes four witnesses should be enough."

Artie gave up trying pay attention to everything. Sam had just decided it might be safe to let them know he was awake and Finn had to hold Puck back again. The nurse had finally decided to call an ambulance for both Sam _and_ Kurt. She left the room to do so as Sue's threats became increasingly loud and more impossible. Mr. Shoue was mumbling about needing to call Kurt's father while looking like he really did not want to be the one to do that and the girls and Mike were still surrounding Kurt and apologizing for falling for Sam's game.

"Yes, but Sue, it does not seem to have been necessary for Mr. Puckerman to have been quite so _violent_ with Mr. Evans." Pleaded the principal.

"He is the scum of the earth! That made it necessary for Puckerman to 'become violent' with him. Puckerman should get a medal! _Nobody. Hurts. My. Cheerios!_" Sue screamed, unwilling to accept any solution offered that didn't involved Sam being severely punished and Puck getting off free. By defending Kurt, Puck had just elevated himself to the position of her favorite non-Cheerio student.

Mr. Shoue finally stepped out of the room and pulled out a cell phone. Watching him through the window, Artie noticed him wincing and holding the phone away from his ear.

Finn seemed to have finally convinced Puck that attacking Sam again wouldn't be a good idea and had gone over to Kurt to see for himself that his almost-step-brother was ok. Puck had decided to join Santana in glaring Sam into submission. Sam had been placed in a chair as far from Kurt as possible and they had decided it was their job to ensure that he didn't move.

Artie turned his attention to Kurt, who now looked more embarassed then anything. He had seven members of the Glee Club doing their very best to prove to him how wrong Sam was. It would be eight, but currently, Artie couldn't get his chair close enough to be heard over the others.

It wasn't long until the paramedics came for Kurt and Sam. After declaring that he wasn't letting his 'almost step-brother' go to the hospital alone, Finn was riding in the ambulance with Kurt.

Now they just had to wait for the aftermath.

* * *

It hadn't taken long for the doctors to confirm that the school nurse had been right and Kurt's only injury was a rather nasty looking bruise. Of course, that hadn't stopped Burt's rant on bullies who actually had a brain but used it for evil. By the time Kurt was released, Carole had decided that it would be best if she drove them home. The Hudson's had moved back into the Hummel household a couple of weeks ago and she had noticed the distance between Kurt and Finn. It angered her that this Sam kid might be the reason for that.

By the time they got home, Kurt had insisted to his father that he was fine. It was just a bruise and the other kids had made it obvious that they did care about him and so he was fine. Of course the fact that he headed straight for his room after that seemed to negate his statement a bit. After watching Burt attempt to wear a hole in the floor as he paced and continued ranting, Finn decided to leave his mother to the job of convincing Burt that going after Sam with a chainsaw and/or flamethrower really wasn't a good idea. He followed his almost step-brother into the basement.

"Um, Hey, Kurt?" he called from the top of the stairs.

"Come on down, Finn." Kurt said with a sigh.

"I just ... I wanted to apologize." Finn said once he reached the bottom of the stairs.

"You don't need to." the smaller boy replied.

"Yes, I do." the football player sighed.

Kurt motioned for Finn to sit down, deciding that the best thing to do was let Finn talk.

"I should have realized something was wrong." Finn insisted.

"Finn, _I_ didn't even realize something was wrong." was the reply.

"But... we're almost brothers. And I'm older then you and bigger ... I'm supposed to protect you." Finn said, looking ashamed.

"Our parents aren't even married yet." Kurt pointed out.

"So, we're almost step-brothers. Same thing." the older boy replied.

Kurt just rolled his eyes.

"I never thought he would hurt you. I mean, I thought that if you sang with him some of the others might hurt you both, but I never thought _he_ would hurt you." Finn said.

"Nobody did. Wait. You thought I'd get hurt if I sang with him?" Kurt asked, looking confused.

"Of course, I did. It's not like they even need an excuse most of the time. I didn't want them to have one. And you were still acting all weird. I thought you'd get mad if I just said that so..." Finn trailed off.

"And you didn't think _that_ would make me mad?" Kurt questioned.

"Well... Actually, I don't think I really did much thinking." Finn admitted. "But ... anyway. We really didn't mean to leave you out. I thought that cause you were ... all weird with me you wanted to hang out with the girls so you wouldn't be near me much. And the girls thought you were hanging out with us and..." He tried to explain.

"They already told me, Finn. I'm not mad." the younger boy said.

"But you're upset. I can tell. I'm sorry. I never wanted to upset you." Finn told him.

"It's fine, Finn. _Really_." Kurt insisted.

Finn sighed and decided he was going to make any progress here. He changed the subject.

"The others have been texting me. You'll never guess what's going on." he told the other boy.

"What?" replied Kurt, sounding slightly wary.

"Well, Sam got suspended but Puck did too. Puck says he doesn't care though. He says maybe people will see that they have to deal with _him_ if they mess with Glee Club now." Finn said.

"That's ... nice of him." Kurt commented, still baffled that Puck of all people had come to his defence like that.

"Yeah, and then Sue apparently told all the Cheerio's that you weren't just off limits to them, you're off limits to _everyone_ and if she catches them with someone who's mean to you then they're off the team!" Finn stated looking thrilled.

Kurt blushed. If he didn't know that his coach would definitely follow through with that, he would have been more worried about how his fellow Cheerio's would react. He was still worried that some people might decided to blame him for it the Cheerio's avoiding them though.

"And Artie says Coach Beiste told the football team that if she hears of them bullying anybody then they're off the team too! And Coach Beiste and Sue and Mr. Schue are all trying to get Principal Figgins to make it so anyone else that's mean to you - or anybody - gets in a _lot_ of trouble. And until he does Glee Club is sticking together. We aren't gonna let anybody mess with us anymore!" Finn finished.

"Wow." was all Kurt said. He wasn't getting his hopes up too much, but this almost sounded like it might work. Like things might get better for him. A slow smile formed when he imagined being able to rub in Sam's face just how much his plan had backfired. Sam's plan to destroy Kurt just might end up making his life a lot better.

* * *

**Author's Note 2: **The prompt that inspired this story was: "Will and the girls walk into the choir room and stop short. They see Sam on the floor, holding his bleeding nose, Kurt curled in Mike's arms crying, and Finn holding back a pissed off Puck from hitting Sam again."


End file.
